Cagliari-Roma Match Preview: The Last Push for Top Three

Roma travel to Sardinia on Sunday night hoping to make it four Serie A wins in a row and keep hold of a top three position in their hands.

Both Lazio and Inter Milan who are trailing Roma for third place will be hoping Roma slip against Cagliari who are caught in a relegation scrap and need a win to guarantee safety and Serie A football for next season.

Confidence is showing in Roma recent Serie A performances, three wins from three against SPAL, Genoa and last weekend against Chievo. Where Roma turned it on when it mattered and delivered a brilliant home win where Stephan El Shaarawy was the star man. The Pharaoh is showing some end of season form. During midweek Roma came close to defeating Liverpool over two legs but in reality, the tie was over after ten minutes where Sadio Mane scored that crucial away goal. But Roma showed a willing never say die attitude in the second half and came away winners on the night.

A 4-2 win thanks to two late Rajda Nainggolan goals. But it was too little too late. The Roma players deserved to be applauded by the home fans who have enjoyed the Champions League run. The players dared to dream and so did the fans.

Cagliari find themselves in the latter part of the season looking over their shoulders as they are getting dragged into the fascinating Serie A relegation battle. Crotone and SPAL are looking to pull off the great escape and Cagliari are one of the clubs that could be dragged into the final relegation place.

In Cagliari last seven matches, they have only picked up four points and lost five. They were humbled 4-1 at Sampdoria and things are not looking good for them on the pitch. At the end of March, they were roundly beaten 4-0 at home to Torino which started a three-game winning loss. That was ended with a 2-1 home win over Udinese, which is another team who is struggling at the end of the season. Another 4-0 defeat followed away at Inter Milan and a 0-0 draw with Bologna.

The confidence is gone in this Cagliari side in this 7 match run which has seen five losses, the pressure has to be on the coach Diego Lopez. Another loss at the weekend and it could be the end of his second reign in Sardinia.